About hosted web layers
In this topic
- Prerequisites to publish hosted web layers
- Types of hosted web layers
- Clients that can use hosted web layers
- Access to hosted web layers
You can publish your maps and data as hosted web layers on your portal. Web, desktop, and mobile apps can access your hosted layers through the Internet if you choose to allow it. You can publish hosted web layers directly from your desktop without installing your own server.
Hosted web layers allow you to easily share maps and features with other members of your portal.
Prerequisites to publish hosted web layers
You must have the following to publish layers to your portal:
- Privileges to create content and publish hosted web layers
- ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop or a later release (if you want to publish hosted web layers from ArcMap)
- A hosting server
If the option to publish to your portal is not available, check with your portal administrator to determine whether your portal has a hosting server and confirm that you have privileges to publish hosted web layers.
Types of hosted web layers
Hosted web layers are designed for map visualization, editing, and query. You can publish the following types of hosted layers:
Feature layers
Hosted feature layers support vector feature querying, visualization, and editing. Hosted feature layers are most appropriate for visualizing data on top of your basemaps. In web apps, hosted feature layers are drawn by the browser and support interactive highlighting, queries, and pop-ups.
See Publish features to learn how to create hosted feature layers.
Tile layers
Hosted tile layers support fast map visualization using a collection of predrawn map images, or tiles. These tiles are created and stored on the server after you upload your data. Hosted tile layers are appropriate for basemaps that give your maps geographic context.
See Publish tiles to learn how to create hosted tile layers.
Scene layers
Hosted scene layers support fast map visualization of 3-dimensional data using a collection of cached tiles as well as an associated hosted feature layer. The tiles and feature layers are created when you publish 3D data from ArcGIS Pro. Cached tiles and the hosted feature layer data are stored on the ArcGIS Data Store machine you have registered with your portal's hosting server.
See Publish scenes to learn how to create hosted scene layers.
Clients that can use hosted web layers
Hosted web layers communicate through the well-known GeoServices REST Specification and can consequently be used by Esri and non-Esri apps. An easy way to view your services is through the map viewer, but you can also make your own app using the ArcGIS viewers for Flex or Silverlight, or the ArcGIS APIs for JavaScript, Flex, Silverlight, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Other supported client apps include ArcGIS Explorer (online and desktop versions), ArcMap, and ArcGIS Pro.
Access to hosted web layers
By default, hosted web layers are private when you publish them and are only accessible to the person who published them. Hosted web layers do not appear in search results and aren't part of any group by default. You can choose to make your hosted web layers available to specific groups in your portal, or you can even make them available to anyone who can connect to your portal. See Manage hosted web layers to learn more.